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A selfish, cynical television executive is haunted by three spirits bearing lessons on Christmas Eve.
I still remember going to see “Scrooged” at the Carlton Cinema in Dublin in 1988 when I was 16 years old. I had fallen in love with Ivan Reitman’s “Meatballs,” which came out in 1979 and starred Murray in his first big-screen outing and of course “Stripes” and “Ghostbusters” so he was a big influence on me growing up. Christmas has always been my favorite time of year and that time was fast approaching in 1988 when I went to see “Scrooged” with some friends. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the very opening when Lee Majors appears, I had grown up watching him, like Bill Murray, in “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Fall Guy.” In fact, director Richard Donner introduced so many well-known faces throughout the film that I eventually lost count.
Murray plays Frank Cross, the youngest television president in IBC’s history but he is also the meanest, the stingiest, and the biggest penny-pinching tightwad in the world, and soon, he will learn the error of his ways. It is Christmas Eve and morale amongst his staff is at an all-time low as he informs everyone that he expects them all to work through the night as the station prepares to air a live broadcast of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” As Frank cuts corners everywhere throughout his company, including that of his brother James (John Murray), he is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Between them, they bring Frank back to his past, showing him how hard a childhood he had, and then into his twenties as he falls for his firt love, Claire (Karen Allen) and their inevitable break-up, and then he is shown the present and the effect he has on those around him. Finally, he is brought to the future, where his outcome will not be very favorable if he doesn’t change his ways.
Anybody familiar with Dickens’ tale will know the film’s conclusion before it is reached but watching Murray turn from a loathsome, contemptible jerk, into a caring and compassionate human being, is well worth the wait. With an all-star cast including John Forsythe, Bobcat Goldthwait, David Johansen, Carol Kane, and Robert Mitchum, “Scrooged” has already joined the ranks of “Die Hard,” “A Christmas Story,” “Gremlins,” and “Elf” as the perfect Christmas movie. However, having said that, for its 30th Anniversary, you would expect to have a ton of special features, including some behind-the-scenes featurettes or even a commentary by director Richard Donner but sadly, the only feature this edition offers, is the movie’s theatrical trailer, the same one that was released on the first “Scrooged” Blu-ray back in 2011. If the movie is all you want, then you won’t be disappointed, sit back and have fun as you watch Murray’s Christmas transformation.
Now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD
